Posted on 11/20/2005 12:34:27 PM PST by wagglebee
Undaunted by the House of Representatives overwhelming rejection on Friday of a proposal to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq, Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., told Tim Russert, host of "Meet the Press, Sunday, that the U.S. will be out of Iraq "very quickly.
"Let me predict this, Murtha said. "We're going to be out of there, we're going to be out of there very quickly, and it's going to be close to the plan that I'm presenting right now.
"You think we'll be out of Iraq by the end of 2006? asked Russert.
"I think we'll be out of there; if not completely out of there, we'll be very close to being out of there, said Murtha. "I think we could be out -- yeah, I predict we'll be out of there -- it'll be 2006."
"By Election Day 2006? qualified Russert.
"You -- you have hit it on the head, Murtha replied.
When confronted by Russert of charges that not a sufficient number of Iraqi forces have been ramped up to U.S. fighting standards, Murtha opined:
"They're going to let us do the fighting, as long as we're there, and, until we turn it over to them, they're not going to be up to standard. So I'm convinced that they can take over this battle and we could move our people to the periphery, out of danger.
As to whether Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should be replaced, Murtha said that such a decision was up to President Bush. Murtha qualified, however, saying:
"Well, I'll put it this way: There have been an awful lot of mistakes made, and I don't know whether it's his fault, but when he forced the military -- now this is what I hear from the military. He forced them to go in with inadequate forces.
As to whether the intelligence provided by the administration was deliberately misleading, Murtha said:
"I wouldn't say that. I don't think any president would mislead the public on the intelligence. They certainly exaggerated, but I don't think they deliberately misled us.
During the Russert interview, Murtha returned more than once to the theme that the idea of a speedy withdrawal was not going away:
"I have never seen such an outpouring in the 32 years I've been in Congress, of support and people with tears in their eyes, people walking along clapping when I'm walking through the halls of Congress, saying something needed to be said. So they're thirsting for a solution to this and the president can't hide behind rhetoric and neither can the vice president.
He's trying to take credit for plans others have devised.
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Yep, I think he is trying to salvage his embarrassment from last week by setting himself up to take credit for that which was already planned. Typical Dim.
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Dems have no "wins" on any matter on their side. So, they stage their "pull-out" rhetoric, so they can go with the flow and claim to be CREDITED for troop drawdown.
As President Bush has said: As Iraqis stand UP; the US military will stand down. Rumsfeld has also made clear the stats.
This whole Dem-Led bruaha has all been about -- "showing" a win by couping on the hardwork done by others.
Murtha is trying to refer to the current troop revolvement as "evidence". Now, John Kerry's recent taunt to President Bush becomes clearer to me.
Good point. What else can they campaign on as a "win" for themselves? Gorelicks Wall? The 9-11 commission? Their Clinton Admin "immigration" laws and records? Universal Health Care given 11 hospitals bankrupting in So. Cal under laws laid by Democrats? Their anti-obesity campaigns while always championing pork in every single bill?
Hes trying out the "spin"....after all...he predicted it.......so no matter when a reduction of troops happens....it was because of him.
Nice try slim....but not so fast....
"What else can they campaign on as a "win" for themselves?"
They'll probably give the standard Kerry 2004 campaign response that they're smarter than Repubs and you can trust them to run things better, translated they don't have any plans or original ideas. What a joke.
Murtha is an irrelevant buffoon, kinda like teddy hiccup, irrational, irrelevant bag of wind.
And upon this, do the Dems think they are "smarter" than pubbies. Elitists think this way: That if they can get others to do their personal responsibility jobs for them -- that makes them SMARTER than others.
And the feminists don't get it, either -- the very things they bray as "evils" about men, are exactly what Democrats do, politically.
The 'rats are just posturing themselves, and it is pretty transparent.
What a jerk-off publicity monger. Betcha big bucks this Murtha fool gets a lot of time tomorrow with Katie on the Today show.
If we bug out with the job unfinished, we should seriously consider getting rid of the Army and Marines, so that we won't ever be tempted to fight a war again. We will have proven we really are paper tigers who can't stand to take a few casualties. All the technology, all the wonderful troops, all the great leaders won't mean a thing because we as a nation will have shown we really have no heart, no stamina, no stomach for a fight.
Then you don't talk with the troops out in the western part of Iraq, we do not have the forces necessary to complete troops to tasks. We are very much looking forward to more Iraqi Army.
I am in the worst place in Iraq and we have yet to capture or kill any insurgent that was not an Iraqi. They are here somewhere, we just have yet to see them. And this is on my on my third trip.
Oddly enough the locals will say we are the problem and then say we can't leave until it is safe. I am positive that they are all insane.
You are right about that. But over there, it will be.
If you are indeed "over there". Do you really think it's wise to be posting what you have on a public board? I'm surprised that you have access to a keyboard if in fact you are in Western Iraq.
The rest of your posts tell quite the story, yut. So you are not a soldier. Are you an Iraq citizen?
Then the Administration should be pressing for a sufficient build-up of troops to completely suppress the insurgency.
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